Cheryl Pallant wins Theresa Pollak Prize for Excellence in the Arts for poetry

November 25, 2013

Cheryl Pallant, an adjunct dance instructor at the University of Richmond, has won a 2013 Theresa Pollak Prize for Excellence in the Arts for her poetry.

Pallant has written nine books of poetry, fiction and nonfiction. Her nonfiction work focuses on dance. Pallant’s writing has been published in Oxford Magazine, Fence and Tarpaulin Sky, among other publications. She has received three National Endowment for the Humanities grants in partnership with the Richmond Arts Council and was a finalist in 2007 for The Bechtel Prize, which honors essays and articles about creative writing, literary studies or writing education. In addition to Richmond, Pallant has taught at Virginia Commonwealth University, Keimyung University in South Korea and the University of Tulsa.

The Theresa Pollak Prizes for Excellence in the Arts were founded in 1998 by Richmond Magazine to recognize “residents of the Richmond region who have made significant contributions to its cultural life,” according to the magazine. A panel of past honorees and critics awards the prizes annually in 13 categories ranging from applied art to film.

Theresa Pollak, a 1921 graduate of the University of Richmond, founded the art departments at Richmond and Richmond Professional Institute, the predecessor to VCU. An accomplished artist, Pollak participated in the first Whitney Biennial, a leading exhibition of contemporary art in New York City, in 1932. Her paintings and drawings have been exhibited in Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, among other places. She died in 2002 at age 103.

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